obsessive-compulsive

[ uhb-ses-iv-kuhm-puhl-siv ]

adjective
  1. noting or relating to a personality characterized by perfectionism, indecision, conscientiousness, concern with detail, rigidity, and inhibition.

  2. Psychiatry. noting or relating to a disorder or neurosis characterized by persistent intrusion of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) or the performance of actions, as repeated hand-washing, that one is unable to stop (compulsions): obsessive-compulsive disorder.

noun
  1. a person having obsessive-compulsive traits.

Origin of obsessive-compulsive

1
First recorded in 1925–30; obsessive + compulsive

Words Nearby obsessive-compulsive

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

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